I hear alot about students that "don't care about grading", and I understand their thought process, but Ian has a great point. You national dues goes towards many things. Insurance, exposure, compensation for shihan, national prgrams and political lobby. For example, in Georgia, the state legislature attempted to pass a bill that would lump martial arts into the same category as boxing, giving the boxing comission the right to run many martial arts programs and competitions. Because of the politial lobby many GA martial arts organizations had, this bill failed. But association money paid for the help to thwart it.